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gmoney

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  • Birthday 11/30/1999

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  1. I spoke with someone who responded to this incident. The climber who fell had a knot on the end of his rope and his belay device was set up correctly. The other climber reached the bottom of the rappel first and lost control of the rope. There was no knot in that end and it pulled through their belay device. The other two members of their party were by the anchor and attempted to stop the rope with their hands before it pulled through the anchor.
  2. I was in Mazama on Monday. This happened on Sisyphus. I was up on the ridge behind Edelweiss and the chopper flew by at eye level on the way into the valley.
  3. More from the Seattle Times' Bruce Ramsey: Two weeks ago in this space I argued for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. ANWR oil, I said, is at the end of the Alaska Pipeline and will be available only as long as the pipeline is, which is a few decades. The wildlife, I said, will survive because the footprint of modern oil drilling is small and because there is no need to develop the Arctic coast for anything else. And I asserted, "Our civilization needs the oil." Dozens of readers told me I was wrong. Consider what they attacked and what they let stand. Several asserted that drilling would spoil the refuge, but not one argued that it would kill the animals. The first question is esthetic or spiritual; the second, scientific. On the scientific question, they gave me a pass. What set them fuming was my statement, "Our civilization needs the oil." One response was that Americans may need the oil, but won't get it. "The bulk of this oil will go to China, Korea and Japan," one reader wrote. "Regular U.S. citizens (and taxpayers) get nothing from this." Assume the oil goes to Asia. The conclusion does not follow. From ANWR oil, Americans would get taxes, royalties and jobs. Also we would get some slack in the oil market, because if China buys more oil from Alaska, it buys less from someplace else. The oil market is global, which means that supply from anywhere benefits consumers everywhere. Demand from anywhere is felt everywhere. Indeed, the most commonly given reason for gas rising above $2 in the United States is increased demand in China. Several readers argued that we don't need ANWR oil because the world has enough. "The Middle East is awash in oil," one wrote. The market suggests otherwise, but at least his conclusion — don't drill — follows logically. But a number of readers argued that the world is running out of oil, so therefore don't look for any more. A believer in "peak oil" — the running-out thesis — wrote, "Drilling there won't help. We use 22 million barrels a day, at most there are four billion barrels there. You do the math — if you can." Four billion barrels will help. How could they not? Many readers tended to argue that if a solution wasn't "sustainable," meaning that it wouldn't solve our energy problem forever, we shouldn't consider it. The reason why solar, wind and other perpetual energy sources are still tiny, they said, is that the oil industry has blocked them. "The level of effort and money expended to date to find alternative sources of energy is about that of Orville and Wilbur in their garage," wrote one reader, who said, "What we need is a Manhattan Project." Well, we had synfuels. That was a big government project. Another wrote me that Denmark, which gets 15 to 20 percent of its electricity from windmills, has gone from "being 98 percent dependent upon foreign oil/energy in 1975 to being an exporter of energy today." Learn from Denmark! But the larger reason Denmark is an energy exporter is its aggressive drilling in the North Sea. Denmark has increased its oil reserves to 1.3 billion barrels — a lot for Denmark, though only one-third of what is said to be under ANWR. Of all the rebuttals, the one I heard the most was that we shouldn't drill for any more oil until we quit wasting it. One wrote: "We squander energy simply because it's cheap. We use gasoline — a product of a precious, non-renewable resource — not just to save us from walking back from the store with a heavy bag of groceries or a rented DVD, but to blow leaves from the sidewalk to the gutter. We live as if there's no tomorrow. We don't 'need' more oil. We just 'want' it." A Seattle woman wrote: "What do you need, really? Have you ever stopped to consider that?" If that is our philosophy, we should decide not only against drilling in ANWR, but anywhere, or expanding our standard of living at all. Because whatever we have, some people will waste — or be perceived as wasting. Finally, of my argument that because of the pipeline, a decision not to drill in ANWR in the next few decades is a decision to abandon the oil: none of my correspondents said a word.
  4. The DNA evidence alone was enough to remove ANY reasonable doubt. I was working downtown in Atlanta when The Juice was acquitted, and every one of the dozen or so black employees in my office was overjoyed to hear that OJ had beat the rap.
  5. One thing is certain, without attorneys willing to do whatever it takes to acquit their guilty-as-hell-wife-slashing clients, our legal system would completely fail. Every trial would be a bogus show trial where the state appointed lawyer would get your ass convicted regarless of whether you did it or not. We should be grateful there are guys like him out there.
  6. The Toyota Prius is not enough. Without viable alternative energy sources (promised to consumers since the 1970's) we need to drill. Oil is the lifeblood of civilization, and the less we buy from middle eastern countries the better. As for the gloom and doom of environmental destruction: "ANWR is not like other federal land. When it became a refuge in 1980, the enormous oil potential in the "1002 area" was already known. This small area of ANWR was given a special designation that allowed for oil drilling with authorization from Congress and the president's signature."
  7. I seems unlikely that we would export oil from Alaska to China with the pipeline/tanker infrastructure set up to bring it to the US for refining. The logistics of getting petroleum from other parts of Asia and the Middle East are way more simple. Calling Frank a piece of shit doesn't really counter or refute his arguments even if he is one.
  8. After reading the ANWR posting with much interest, I thought it would be fun to add these comments from the governor of Alaska printed in the Seattle PI: For more than a century, the economic vitality of Washington state and Alaska has been intertwined. From the Gold Rush to the oil boom, money and natural resources leaving Alaska have passed through Washington, creating tens of thousands of jobs. Seattle-based companies are key investors in Alaska's multibillion-dollar seafood, shipping, tourism and retail industries. The benefits to Washington state's economy will continue to grow if Congress approves oil development in a small section of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Washington's five oil refineries process billions of dollars of Alaska crude, supplying consumers throughout the Northwest with energy. Washington alone consumes 18 million gallons of petroleum daily. Apparently, not everyone is traveling to their destinations on bicycles. If Alaska's crude oil were not available, Washington state would be getting its oil supply from Middle Eastern nations in foreign ships with foreign crews, built in foreign shipyards. More than half of this country's oil comes from foreign sources, particularly OPEC. America needs American oil — to reduce our dependence on the foreign oil that threatens our national security. We must develop energy sources in America, for the American consumer, while safeguarding American security. Alaska's environmental standards are the highest in the world, and yet Washington Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray — opponents of ANWR drilling — have repeatedly declined my invitations to visit ANWR and see firsthand this area of national importance. Your senators would have witnessed that Alaska mandates the highest environmental standards in the world. Technological advances in environmentally friendly drilling, developed in Alaska, have been transferred to other locations around the globe, lifting the bar for the entire industry. Protecting the environment is a global issue, not just an Alaskan issue. Stopping the exploration of ANWR only shifts oil production to other parts of the world where environmental standards are lower. Advances in directional drilling make the footprint in ANWR extremely small. Use of only 2,000 acres for ANWR development is authorized in the House energy bill, yet ANWR is 19 million acres, about the size of Colorado. Federal biologists began surveying the Central Arctic caribou herd in 1978, after the Alaska pipeline began operation. Since then, the herd has grown from 5,000 to over 32,000 animals. Alaska has proven it can be responsible; wildlife in ANWR will continue to coexist with cautious oil and gas exploration. ANWR is not like other federal land. When it became a refuge in 1980, the enormous oil potential in the "1002 area" was already known. This small area of ANWR was given a special designation that allowed for oil drilling with authorization from Congress and the president's signature. Critics falsely claim ANWR will only produce six months of oil. This incorrectly assumes ANWR would be the only oil field in operation in the world. In fact, ANWR oil will make significant contributions to the nation's energy supply for decades, replacing what we import from Saudi Arabia for the next 20 years. To bring this statistic home, ANWR alone would supply the state of Washington with all of its oil needs for 15 years. Some estimates use the most pessimistic production figures by counting only 3.5 billion barrels of oil. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates between 12 billion and 32 billion barrels exist in the ANWR "1002 area," of which between 6 billion and 16 billion barrels are recoverable using current technology. Some say ANWR will take at least seven years to begin production. That delay is because of the comprehensive environmental-impact study necessary to ensure that the environment is protected. Like all Americans, I support research and technological development in alternative energies so that in the future we can reduce our energy dependence. But we must be realistic — right now the world moves on oil and that will be the case for years to come. Until the arrival of new energy technology, oil from ANWR can significantly help in easing our dependence on foreign imports. Producing oil in Alaska means high-paying careers for American workers, not foreigners. Companies friendly to our country will profit, rather than governments that would prefer our demise. We need an honest discussion of the facts and science regarding responsible ANWR oil production and its numerous benefits for America. Please encourage Washington state's two senators to actually visit the North Slope of Alaska and see what they are voting against at the expense of their own state, Alaska and America's national-security interests. Frank H. Murkowski is the governor of Alaska.
  9. gmoney

    Murder At Index

    Here a link to the PI article http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/217199_neighborshot23.html Sad story. When you need restraining orders against your neighbors, it is probably time to either move or buy fences, dogs, and guns.
  10. Avatar....sorry. What is avatar.
  11. It was "Journey to the top of the world". My favorite part is where Spencer just grabs on to the rope REAL HARD to stop a fall and the rope cuts into his hands leaving the rope all bloody.... Put ol' Pete Schoening's ice axe belay to shame.
  12. Has anyone ever climbed here? Check out the disclaimer at the bottom of their homepage at: http://www.nelsonrocks.org/ Freakin' hilarious
  13. Did the West Ridge of Stuart. GREAT route. Every climber should try it...
  14. People are not dying to get into Scotland (or any other "old world" socialist european state) to work and live. 'Nuff said!
  15. Thanks. More of a weather question than a climbing question...but I needed to know.
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